Lakers' Offer to Green Believed to Have a Termination Clause

With speculation mounting that A.C. Green will sign with the Phoenix Suns, the Lakers have given their free-agent forward a new proposal that is believed to include a one-year termination clause.

Whether that, along with five seasons in the neighborhood of $3 million each, will be enough to retain Green may be known as soon as today. According to terms of the new Laker offer, the veteran forward would have both a guarantee for more money than the Suns could offer and the choice to become a free agent again next summer, but the lure to play for a team that will immediately contend for the NBA title may win out.

Laker General Manager Jerry West said Monday he could not comment because neither Green nor his agent, Marc Fleisher, has told the Lakers they are out of the running. Negotiations have continued even since the Lakers, with whom Green has spent each of his eight pro seasons, rescinded a five-year, $17.5-million offer.

"I think we've tried really hard to keep A.C. a part of the Lakers," West said.

Meanwhile, the Lakers and their other unrestricted free agent, Sedale Threatt, may reach an agreement as soon as today. And Tony Smith has told the Lakers he will reject a three-year contract to accept a one-year qualifying offer that will allow him to become an unrestricted free agent next spring.